The African continent is home to over one billion people, more than 50 countries and over 1,000 local languages. This immense diversity makes it difficult to generalize about the continent and its music. So what follows is just an enthusiastic toe-dip into the waters based on nearly three wild and happy decades of playing African music on dance floors and on the radio.

Over the course of the last century, the music of Africa and its diaspora, in all its varied forms, has undoubtedly become the most successful and influential form of popular music on the planet. With the rise of US minimalists, such as Philip Glass and Steve Reich, and European composers like Györgi Ligeti – all of whom have been influenced by African music – its impact on contemporary classical music has grown ever stronger. African music is so much part of our musical DNA that first-time listeners to music from the continent are going to feel a frisson of recognition, a sense they’re coming home.

The organic, circular patterns of African music can be heard in contemporary dance music, be it house, dub step, rap or grime. And the roots of rap music can be traced back to African musical traditions: the widespread practice of telling stories over rhythms, and bass lines that mimic speech and singing patterns.

Three centuries of systematic enslavement and enforced removal of the peoples of West Africa spread their culture and music throughout the Caribbean and the Americas. The blues, field songs and the harmonies of spirituals all testify to the influence of Africans who were stolen from their motherland. The people whose distant memories embraced the fluent playing of Manding string instruments like ngonis (lute-like instruments) and koras adapted to the guitar and violin, and invented the banjo, with its membraneous soundboard.

Watch Mamadou Diabaté play a traditional Malian melody on the kora:

Drums were forbidden to slaves on plantations in the United States. But in Latin America and the Caribbean, the clave rhythm from Ghana and Nyabingi-like rhythms from East Africa underpinned a musical evolution that led to son, merengue and salsa on the one hand, and reggae, cumbia and reggeo on the other.

Watch a drumming circle from Ghana:

By the early years of the 20th century, evolving musical forms such as blues, jazz, beguines, tango and samba started to journey back to Africa. They travelled via migrant musicians and sailors. As the century progressed, they also spread via records, radio, touring musical stars, television, film and the internet. The diaspora continues to bring it all back home to Africa, where music mutates and bounces back to the world.

African music: key facts

In 1997, more than a million people attended the funeral in Lagos of Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the iconic composer, multi-instrumentalist, creator of Afrobeat, rebel and human rights activist.

Youssou N’Dour, described by Rolling Stone in 2004 as ‘perhaps the most famous singer alive in Senegal and much of Africa’ was appointed tourism and culture minister in the cabinet of new prime minister Abdoul Mbaye in April 2012. Could Adele yet become Home Secretary in the UK?

When Franca Sozzani, editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, dedicated the May 2012 issue of L'Uomo Vogue to 'Rebranding Africa', she cited a desire to reflect a continent that was ‘creative and confident of its own strengths’.

Leaving aside the question of whether or not Africa needs rebranding, the fact that fashion royalty such as Sozzani have turned their gaze to Africa tells you how exciting the continent's fashion scene is right now. Sozzani is not the only one to be enjoying a love affair with all things African. Luxury labels such as Gucci, Burberry and Balenciaga all recently showed African-inspired collections.

While it's heartening to see designer labels awaken to African creativity, the really exciting work is being done by African designers themselves, both on the continent and in the diaspora. Labels such as Bestow Elan (Ghana), Gloria Wavamunno (Uganda) and Jewel by Lisa (Nigeria) are moving from lesser-known to much-sought-after in fashion circles. Meanwhile, Nigerian designer Duro Olowu is a favourite with Michelle Obama.

‘The use of African fabrics by big labels like Burberry has helped to promote their usage and acceptance and brought them to the mainstream,’ says Samson Soboye, stylist and founder of Soboye boutique in Shoreditch, which specialises in African and African-inspired designers, including NKWO, Shollyjaay and Ituen Basi. ‘I love Ituen Basi for looking at Ankara in a different way and giving it a new lease of life,’ says Soboye.

Ituen Basi is one of the many designers to have shown at Africa fashion week in Lagos, which is organised by ARISE magazine.

See Ituen Basi's collection at ARISE Africa fashion week 2011:

A selection of the best African designers also take part in a spectacular show at New York Fashion Week. 'The forthcoming spring/summer 2013 NYFW show features Savile Row stalwart Ozwald Boateng, adire expert Maki Oh, resort-wear queen Tiffany Amber and sports luxe pro Tsemaye Binitie, plus South Africa's Gavin Rajah, who excels at floaty, romantic gowns,’ says editor of ARISE, Helen Jennings.

Events such as the ARISE fashion shows, Africa Fashion Week London and the Southbank Centre's recent Africa on the Catwalk show, part of the month-long Africa Utopia festival, play a huge part in diluting some of the myths surrounding African fashion – namely, that it's all about prints.

‘There are as many fabrics and styles in Africa as there are tribes and languages; much like we cannot classify all European or Asian fashion under one style, we cannot do that with African fashion either,’ says Ronke Ademiluyi, founder of Africa Fashion Week London. ‘After years of striving for recognition, Africa is finally making waves not only in fashion but in entertainment and culture. African fashion is on the rise and getting the attention it truly deserves.'

Traditional fabrics such as Aso Oke, Kente and Adire are being reinvigorated by contemporary designers. ‘Designers such as Kemkem Studio, Ituen Basi and Buki Akib give these fabrics a new lease of life,’ says Ola Shobowale, creative director of Africa Utopia's Africa on the Catwalk show.

‘The younger generations are looking into their parents’ and grandparents’ wardrobes and using them as reference points, adding their own spin,’ says Laurence Kanza, whose interiors label La Petite Congolaise, recently featured in a pop-up African boutique at the Southbank Centre.

This dynamic, by which the traditional influences the contemporary, has always existed in African fashion, but it has only recently become commercial. It is this duality of identity and aesthetic that makes contemporary African fashion so exciting.

African fashion: key facts

In Nigeria annual fashion consumption spend is thought to be in excess of £700 million (according to tax-free shopping company Global Blue).

At 28 years old, British Ghanian designer Ozwald Boateng became the youngest, and first black, tailor on Savile Row (in 1995).

When Somali supermodel Iman first came onto the fashion scene (in 1975), photographer Peter Beard claimed she was an illiterate cowherd, when in fact she was a middle-class university-educated diplomat's daughter, fluent in 5 languages.

Two of fashion's ionic designers are African-born. Yves Saint Laurent, born in Algeria in 1936, directly referenced his heritage in his 1967 spring/summer African collection. Tunisian-born couturier Azzedine Alaia also draws on his African origins in his work.

While Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa currently dominate the scene, African fashion is truly pan-continental. Kenya, Zimbabwe, Angola, Tanzania, Botswana, Mozambique, Morocco, Cameroon, Gambia, Ethiopia, Ghana are just some of the countries hosting their own fashion weeks.

Hannah Pool is Features Editor at ARISE Magazine. Photo courtesy of Jackie King/I'mPOSSIBLE.

When I sat down with June Givanni and David Lawson to plan the cinema screenings for Deloitte Ignite Africa Weekend, there was one film above all that informed our discussions. However, we did not feel the need to include it in our programme. Some films are so powerful that their influence can be felt throughout cinema history.

Here’s a little known fact: since 1895, when cinema’s founding fathers Auguste and Louis Lumière sent a cameraman to north Africa to film ‘actualités’ on their newly patented cinématographe, Africa has always known film. 1895 was also the founding moment of cinema – the year in which the first images were recorded with remarkable new techniques – so it’s fair to say that Africa has always been part of the history of film.

Watch footage of the River Nile in Egypt, filmed by the Lumière brothers in 1895:

However, histories are always laced with irony. And one of the ironic reasons why Africa’s early involvement in cinema is not widely known is that it has been overshadowed by another influential cinematic event: a 'year zero' when the continent unquestionably became part of the cinematic family.

1963 is the year in question. In this year, a 40-year-old trade-union-activist-turned-novelist wrote, directed and narrated a film that for many is the most significant ‘beginning’ of African cinema. Such were the tremors set off by this film that whenever someone now refers to 'African cinema', they are almost always, knowingly or otherwise, invoking what this film set out to achieve.

The director’s name was Ousmane Sembène (he died, alas, in 2007) and Borom Sarret (The Wagoner) is the film. Only 20-minutes long and by today’s standard a sketch, Borom Sarret tells the riveting yet harrowing story of a poor cart driver struggling to make ends meet in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.

Watch a clip from BoromSarret:

Even by African standards, Ousmane Sembène arrived relatively late on the film scene. Egyptian director Youssef Chahine, for instance, directed his first feature film Daddy Amin in 1950. And affecting though Borom Sarret is, it was certainly not the first African film to gain international recognition. As early as 1949, another Egyptian director Salah Abu Seif had his film The Adventures of Antar and Abla nominated for the Grand Prize in the Cannes Film Festival of that year.

Nor can Borom Sarret claim to be noteworthy because of its technical innovation. If a prize existed for such an honour, Sarie Marais (1931) would win hands down. Directed by Joseph Albrecht, this 10-minute short set in a British POW camp for Boer prisoners was Africa’s first talking picture. Borom Sarret wasn’t even the first Senegalese film. Even that singular privilege belongs to another remarkable director and his first outing: Paulin Vieyra’s L’Afrique sur Seine (Africa on the Seine), produced in 1955.

Borom Sarret has something unique though. The film had a reach and an ambition that, to this day, remain the defining ethic of African cinema in all its multiplicity. Borom Sarret achieved this by simply saying that things that are understood to be ‘natural’ (poverty) are in fact ‘historical’ (a post-colonial reality). And it did so by bringing a forensic eye and an unflinching and unvarnished gaze to the continent’s unfolding dramas and realities.

So whenever you hear an African director say that they want a film to 'capture African reality’, or 'document African society’, or that they prefer to make films about ‘dramas’ rather than ‘conditions’, you know you are in the presence of that short film made back in 1963.

All of the films included in Africa in the Piazza are, in spirit, the children of Borom Sarret.

John Akomfrah is a founding member of the Black Audio Film Collective. He is co-curator of Africa in the Piazza, a two-day series of open-air screenings in the heart of Covent Garden.

“Africa is not a country” goes the saying and this can be seen in the wide variety of foods that Africans prepare and eat. As well as being the second largest landmass on the planet - with climatic conditions ranging from deserts to tropical jungles to savannahs - Africa is also home to hundreds of ethnic groups and tribes. This rich diversity has resulted in regional food cultures that change markedly as you move through the continent, sometimes staying true to the foods eaten there for centuries, and sometimes heavily influenced by the ingredients and cuisines brought by traders and colonists.

The areas of Africa that were not on maritime trade routes or close to other countries have tended to remain the most faithful to their traditional foods and recipes. Central Africa is one area that remained relatively inaccessible to outsiders, retaining a strong local food culture. Raising livestock is difficult in the equatorial jungles of the region and vegetables such as plantain and cassava make up a large part of the diet, together with spinach or greens, tomatoes, onions, peppers and peanut butter. Chicken is commonly served in stews and wild meat might be served on special occasions, including antelope, crocodile and warthog. Fufu, a starchy porridge-like paste made from yam or cassava roots, is served at most meals.

Starchy food is definitely a recurring African theme and each region has its own favourite. The most common include jollof rice (sometimes made with local rice), fufu, couscous, garri (made from dried grated cassava), banku and kenkey (both made with maize meal). These are often served with richly flavoured stews of goat, mutton or beef flavoured with spices like sumbala or local melagueta pepper, and accompanied by native greens. Popular dishes, such as egusi soup, unusually combine meat and seafood in one dish.

But where Africa came into contact with other cultures, it was quick to adapt and adopt their cuisines. North African cuisine, owing to its proximity to Europe, has been hugely influenced by traders, invaders and immigrants. The Carthaginians introduced wheat and its by-product, semolina, which the Berbers adapted into couscous. Spices introduced by the Arabs, like saffron, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and cloves are common in Moroccan tagines (slow-cooked meat stews, often with added dried or preserved fruits). Arab traders also left their mark in east African where steamed rice is flavoured with spices such as cinnamon and cloves. Further inland, cattle are a symbol of wealth so the milk and blood, rather than the meat, are consumed and the local starchy dish is ugali, made from maize meal. In the Horn of Africa, stews are ladled onto injera (a slightly spongy flatbread made from teff flour and a sourdough starter) and pieces of injera are torn off to use instead of utensils.

In southern Africa, the hunter-gatherer San people’s tradition of cooking wild hunted meat over an open fire gave rise to braaivleis (barbecuing meat over an open fire), and potjiekos (stews cooked in 3-legged cast iron pots over open fires). Local tribes including the Zulu and Xhosa raised crops, including maize which is the main ingredient in the regional staple phutu (a stiff maize meal porridge, called sadza in Zimbabwe).

Cape Malay cuisine (created by Indonesian slaves imported by Dutch colonists) is popular around Cape Town characterised by sweetly spiced dishes such as bobotie (a baked curried mince dish with sultanas). Descendants of Indian slaves brought by the British to work on sugar plantations have created a vibrant curry cuisine, including the popular local speciality bunny chow (curry served in a hollowed out bread); while in Mozambique, Portuguese colonists established a culture of seafood and piri piri spice.

But what remains constant through the continent is the pride and willingness with which people invite strangers into their homes and offer them the best portion of whatever is being cooked.

African food: key facts

West Africa produces 70% of the world’s cocoa – as well as being home to the miracle fruit (richadella dulcifica) that makes sour things taste sweet if consumed before the sour dish.

Both mopane worms and locusts are traditionally eaten in various parts of Africa.

Because the traditional African diet is so high in unrefined sugars, the continent traditionally has very low rates of diabetes (but this is changing as a Western diet becomes more popular).

In Nigeria, meat and eggs are not usually given to children, because parents believe it will make the children steal.

South Africa is the only country in Africa producing significant quantities of quality wine, and wine has been made there since 1659.

After his encounter with African art in Paris in 1907, Pablo Picasso was a changed man. He later described the moment in terms of a religious conversion. He used words like ‘shock’, ‘revelation’ and ‘charge’.

Like many European artists of his generation, Picasso saw something exciting in African art. He identified with its craft and imagination, but he also saw different considerations to those that drove Western art of the time. African art hinted at a conceptual space that was worthy of real attention.

Watch Gus talk about the impact of African art on early 20th-century Paris:

Most of the carvings and masks collected by men like Picasso were created by artists whose names are now lost. Traditionally, African artists belonged to guilds supported by wealthy patrons. Over centuries this system of patronage drove innovation in wood-carving, textiles, metalwork and ceramics, while ensuring stylistic continuity. It produced great centres of excellence, like the foundries of southern Nigeria, the calligraphic studios of North Africa, the wood-carving schools of central Africa and the textile-producing towns of Ghana. It developed the tastes of visually literate populations who demanded art that was complex and challenging.

For the most part, this traditional African art had clear functions. It built cultural cohesion by carrying the narrative of peoples and, like art the world around, it was created to be visually arresting. African art was often not just a record of change, it could also be the necessary ingredient to spark change.

After World War II the first generation of named African artists began to come to the attention of Western art markets. A handful of this pioneering generation, like Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, used Western materials while maintaining African subjects and iconography. Bruly Bouabré drew on exhaustive research to create a manifesto for life, death and the universe.

Others like Uzo Egonu, who trained in London, created work that straddled an African art sensibility and a European one. Egonu was involved in the avant-garde scene of 1960s London and the city was a major influence on his work.

A new generation of African artists emerged after decolonization. Their work had a changed focus from that of their forerunners. Universities, art schools and galleries had replaced the old systems of patronage and international art markets began to have an impact. There were powerful continuities; many West African artists found ways to integrate weaving and metalwork into their work, while many North African artists continued using calligraphy in theirs. African art continued to focus on transformations, but it now also inspired and mapped change in national politics, global environmentalism and gender relations. These were themes that were more accessible to an international audience. It seemed to herald a new moment, a new kind of art for a new African continent.

Years after his initial encounter, when Picasso was asked how much he was influenced by African art, he rejected the very idea. He allegedly said that the African sculptures in his studio were like witnesses to his genius rather than inspirations. Anyone who has seen Les Demoiselles d'Avignon knows that African art was more influential on Picasso than that. I have always felt that his reaction mirrored a common lack of recognition of the distinctive genius of African art.

Thankfully over the last century African art has come a long way, and has begun to gain the acknowledgment it deserves. In 2012, a tapestry woven by the Ghanaian artist El Anatsui sold for a million dollars – its title: New World Map. Anatsui is one of the few artists who has had works displayed in both the British Museum and the Tate galleries.

Watch El Anatsui talk about the studio process behind his work:

African art: key facts

Africa rivals East Asia for the oldest ceramic traditions.

The oldest surviving flecks of paint were excavated from the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. They date to the Lower Paleolithic period more than 300,000 years ago.

African art has been called primitive, yet it was a critical catalyst in the development of modern art.

The last decade has seen the final museums in Europe remove stuffed Africans from their display cases and the first million-dollar African art sold in European auction rooms.

"Without Tony Allen, there would be no Afrobeat" and "perhaps the greatest drummer whoever lived". Praise indeed from two of the 20th century's most famous musicians, Fela Kuti and Brian Eno respectively.

Legendary drummer and composer Tony Allen will perform at the Royal Opera House as part of Yinka Shonibare's Africa-themed Deloitte Ignite festival, 50 years into a career that shows no signs of slowing down.

Tony rose to prominence in the mid -1960s alongside fellow Nigerian Fela Kuti as a pioneer of Afrobeat, a blend of jazz, traditional Yoruba and high life music. The self-taught drummer began to play aged 18 and devoured American music by the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker alongside contemporary African tracks. The young Tony Allen began playing claves (sticks) before being promoted to the drum stool in Victor Olaiya's highlife act, the Cool Cats.

As part of Kuti's Africa '70, Tony soon found fame for his impressive percussion technique - drumming in a different time signature with each of his four limbs. "I like to extract the beat that's there and then try lots of different beats and different ways of drumming around it. That's the only way not to get bored," he told world music magazine Songlines.

Tony is quick to address the misconception that James Brown's visit to Lagos in 1970 was a turning point for the way African musicians played, "What really happened was that his musicians came to our club to see us every night after their show. The truth is that James Brown's band learned more from African musicians than we learned from James Brown."

His work with Fela Kuti and Africa '70 saw him record over thirty albums before leaving the band in 1979 to pursue a successful solo career. After his departure, Fela needed four drummers to replace him for live performances: such was his rhythmic ferocity behind the drum kit.

It was at this time that he developed Afrofunk, a hybrid of Afrobeat, electronica and rap. He rejects this label however, preferring to see the sound as a development of Afrobeat - an experiment.

Throughout his solo career, Tony has shown a willingness to broaden his musical palette as well as keeping alive the spirit of Afrobeat. He's collaborated with a number of musicians around the world including Blur frontman Damon Albarn, with whom he will perform at Deloitte Ignite. The duo recorded the album The Good, the Bad & the Queen in 2007 as one half of a supergroup also featuring Simon Tong of The Verve and Paul Simonon of The Clash. Since then Allen and Albarn have also teamed up with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea under the name Rocket Juice & the Moon.

At 72, Tony shows no time of letting up. He remains politicized, calling on the Nigerian government to combat poverty and unemployment. "I don't see Nigerians benefiting from all the oil they have," he told Reuters in 2008, "this government needs to create a social movement. It must go to the poor areas and ask people what their needs are."

On the future his plans are clear, "I just want to move forward. I kept on doing what I wanted to do - exploring and learning more."

One thing is for sure, whatever sonic path he treads at the Royal Opera House on Friday 31 August, the Deloitte Ignite audience are in for a treat.

Among other high profile works, the Turner-Prize nominated artist is known for creating Nelson's Ship in a bottle - a sculpture which, until recently, stood on the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square.

Nigerian-born Yinka will curate this year's event, a three day cultural festival from 31 August to 2 September bringing Africa to the Royal Opera House through visual art, music and food for all the family.

Each year the festival attracts thousands of first time visitors to the Royal Opera House.

The festival, which is open to the public for free, is renowned for delivering a diverse multi-arts programme from cutting edge artists. Previous years have featured:

Jo Malone, the perfumeria, who teamed up with artist, Cecile Egbert, at the inaugural festival to produce a scent experience (2008)